Tomgram makes sense again

Tomgram: Chip Ward, The Department of Homegrown Security

After the Green Economy, Green Security
How to Build Resilient Communities in a Chaotic World
By Chip Ward
posted February 26, 2009 10:56 am

...Today, "homeland security" and the Department of Homeland Security (DHS), that unwieldy amalgam of 13 agencies created by the Bush administration in 2002, continue to express the potent, all-encompassing fears and assumptions of our last president's Global War on Terror. Foreign enemies may indeed be plotting to attack us, but, believe it or not (and increasing numbers of people, watching their homes, money, and jobs melt away are coming to believe it), that's probably neither the worst, nor the most dangerous thing in store for us....

...If you're thinking about what the greening of homeland security might actually mean, look no further than our food supply...

...There are enough vacant lots, backyards, and rooftops to host many thousands of gardens, either created by voluntary groups or by small-scale entrepreneurs. Urban farming could even go big. Columbia University professor Dickson Despommier recently unveiled his vision of a "vertical farm," a 30-story tower right in the middle of an urban landscape, that could grow enough food to feed 50,000 people in the surrounding neighborhood...

...Ideally, the greening of homeland security would mean more than pamphlets on planting, but would provide actual seed money -- and not just for seeds either, but for building greenhouses, distributing tools, and starting farmers' markets where growers and consumers can connect. How about raiding the Department of Homeland Security's gluttonous budget for "homegrown" grants to communities that want to get started? ...

...In the U.S., "post-carbon" working groups are beginning to sprout across the country...

Right, they are sprouting amongst the people because they are going around the Now 4 Climate Change Lobbyists for Every Member of Congress (from Energy company interests)
by Brian Merchant, Brooklyn, New York on 02.26.09

Another topic, a hot one-- Bobby Jindal. Bringin' home the Bacon.

Jindal scored big in the pork contest. He, sometimes in concert with other lawmakers, ended up bringing home $97,913,200 in bacon. That put him at the number 14 spot in Taxpayers for Common Sense's annual tally of the most successful appropriators in the House.